Pick co-op games for the weaker player, and your couple's night will survive

It Takes Two came out on March 26, 2021, so it is now more than five years old, and Split Fiction followed on March 6, 2025. Both are built for exactly two people. I think couples should choose games like these by the weaker player rather than by a top-10 rank, which puts Super Mario Bros. Wonder or It Takes Two first and shooters last.

Is a top-10 list any use for two people of different skill?

A top-10 list does show what exists, but it ranks games as if one person holds both controllers. It Takes Two is the clearest example. Its Wikipedia entry records Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021, over 30 million copies sold by April 2026, and a design made exclusively for two players. A rank rewards the first two, and for an uneven couple the third counts more.

I sort by situation instead of rank, in four groups: a partner who has never played, cozy and puzzle fans, story pairs, and two people who both want action. For each pick I note couch or online play and, where the sources say, whether both of you need a copy. Tom's Guide has covered the gamer and non-gamer pairing too, in a list headlined "I'm a gamer and my partner isn't, but she still can't resist these 5 couch co-op games."

What if my partner has never held a controller?

Super Mario Bros. Wonder, released on Switch on October 20, 2023, is where I start. Its world map is non-sequential and lets players skip harder levels, Wikipedia notes, and the same entry lists assists for beginners. The skip matters most to me, because a hard level no longer has to be beaten before the newer player can move on to the rest of the map.

Wonder's local multiplayer takes up to twelve players in a room, with four active at once, according to the same Wikipedia entry. A couple uses two of those places, and the headcount matters less to me than the pair of tools for the weaker player: the beginner assists and the skippable levels. On those two tools, for a first-time player, Wonder ranks first in my order.

Stardew Valley also belongs here, and a patch is the reason. Engadget reported that the console update of February 11, 2021 added a splitscreen option for up to four players at once, whether locally or remote. Splitscreen lets a couple share one console and one farm, and I think a game that asks for no second machine is the right start for someone who has never played.

It Takes Two earns its place here through the way it is sold. The game is built purely for two, in couch co-op or online through Friend's Pass, and EA's page says only one person must own the full game for the partner to play all of it. A partner who has never played needs no copy. Online play, the same page adds, requires a friend on the same platform.

Overcooked 2 is the pick I move down for a beginner. Teams of up to four players cooperatively prepare and cook orders in absurd restaurants, Wikipedia says, connecting over a local wireless network or through online matchmaking, with a versus mode as well. The same entry notes that the game can overwhelm players, and an overwhelmed newcomer is the reverse of what this section is for.

Do cozy and puzzle games really count as co-op?

Portal 2 makes the case for puzzles. Its co-op campaign, as Wikipedia describes it, has two players solve puzzles together as the robots Atlas and P-Body, either on one console in split screen or on separate computers or consoles. The campaign runs about six hours and is harder than the single-player game, so co-op is the more demanding of its two modes.

Stardew Valley belongs in this group as well as the last one, because farming together is co-op by any measure. Its multiplayer launched on all PC platforms on August 1, 2018, Wikipedia records, and reached Switch in December 2018. That puts more than two years between the first PC co-op and the console splitscreen update of February 2021.

One set of Switch limits comes from the fan-run Stardew Valley wiki, not an official source, and the page itself was not available at the time of writing. Search-result excerpts from it, which stay unconfirmed, say that Switch split-screen is limited to two players, each with a full controller or two Joy-Cons. They add that online play needs a console subscription and that split-screen and remote play cannot be mixed.

Unravel Two is the strict one. It can be played alone or with a partner, but its multiplayer is local co-op only, Wikipedia notes, and it reached Switch on March 22, 2019. That rules out online play entirely, yet I think one hard rule is easier for a couple to plan around than a page of conditions like the ones attached to Stardew on Switch.

Moving Out came out on April 28, 2020 for Windows, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, and it is another local co-op pick. Its Wikipedia entry carries one rule that suits this section: some heavy objects require two people to move. That rule is the plainest proof in this group that a cozy or puzzle game can demand as much teamwork as anything louder.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime rounds out the group. It can be played alone or with two to four players, on Windows, Linux, OS X, PS4, Switch and Xbox One, according to its Wikipedia entry. That entry, like those for Portal 2, Unravel Two and Moving Out, does not describe how the game handles a gap in skill, so for a true beginner all four come after Mario Wonder.

Is a story-driven pair worth the money?

Prices were not available at the time of writing, so I weigh the money in copies. A Way Out, released on March 23, 2018 for PS4, PC and Xbox One, is the oldest of the three story games here. It must be played with another player, locally or online, Wikipedia says, and that entry states neither whether one copy covers both players nor how the game treats a weaker one.

Split Fiction came out on March 6, 2025 for PS5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S, and it keeps the same two-player rule: it must be played with another player through local or online play. Its Wikipedia entry adds that it supports cross-platform play. That matters to any couple who own different platforms, and I think it is Split Fiction's strongest argument.

I think It Takes Two is worth the money because one copy covers both of you. EA's page says one user must own the full game for the co-op player to play the full game, through Friend's Pass. The limit is the platform. Online play requires a friend on the same platform, EA says, while Wikipedia says Split Fiction supports cross-platform play.

Can a couple do shooters without a fight?

Helldivers 2 is the shooter in my order. It launched on PS5 and PC on February 8, 2024 and reached Xbox on August 26, 2025. Its Wikipedia entry lists co-op for up to four players and a difficulty chosen for each operation, from level 1 ("Trivial") to level 10 ("Super Helldive"). Couch play and a one-copy pass are not described in that source.

My answer to this heading is a cautious yes, and the dial is the reason. Ten levels, from Trivial to Super Helldive, give an uneven pair a range to pick from on every operation. It still comes last in my order, because for a first-time player I rank Mario Wonder's beginner assists and skippable levels above any difficulty setting, however wide that setting is.

What should we buy first?

Buy for the weaker player. On Switch, that means Super Mario Bros. Wonder first, because a stuck player can skip a harder level, and It Takes Two second. EA's page also lists It Takes Two on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and on those machines it comes first, because one copy covers both of you through Friend's Pass, provided you share a platform for online play.

You give up the ranked list and the hardest difficulty, and you gain a game both of you finish.